"At 12:24 p.m. Wednesday, with his Congressman father watching, Rand Paul took the oath of office that made him the 66th Kentuckian to serve in the U.S. Senate...Minutes before, Dan Coats stood next to two Hoosier Republican colleagues — Sen. Richard Lugar and former Vice President Dan Quayle — and took his oath as senator...Across the Capitol, Republican Todd Young of Southern Indiana's 9th District took the oath of office with the entire House of Representatives." [Courier-Journal]

"State Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, introduced a bill Wednesday to curtail interest rates charged by payday lending companies....Owens’ measure, House Bill 182, would put a 36 percent cap on consumers’ rate for payday loans, as the U.S. Congress has done for members of the military. Seventeen states currently have such a law." [Bluegrass Politics]

"According to Business First, Louisville was ranked among the worst cities to find a job last month, which shouldn’t really be that surprising if you’ve been paying any attention to the local economy for the past decade." [LEO Weekly]

"For weeks, we’ve known that someone was trying to buy the old Colgate Plant in Clarksville. An unidentified bidder tentatively agreed to pay $4.5 million for the property in an auction in the fall, but the deal fell through in late December. It was a mysterious case. The buyer was trying to line up international investors for a redevelopment project, with a likely eye toward starting work on the Clark’s Landing project, which would redevelop much of Clarksville’s riverfront. The speculation over who wanted the property ended, though, when the possible buyer backed out. That buyer was never identified, but records obtained by WFPL indicate that the Boston Development Group was likely behind the failed purchase." [WFPL]

"A prosecutor with the Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney's office pleaded not guilty in District Court on Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and alcohol intoxication stemming from a Jan. 1 arrest. Evan Spalding, 29, was arrested in the 4000 block of Gloucester Road about 2:20 a.m. by St. Matthews police after officers arrived at a home for a second time on complaints of a 'loud party.'” [Courier-Journal]

"The nearly two-year long battle between the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Louisville Metro Government regarding the placement of a 5-foot 6-inch tall crippled chicken statue has likely come to an end. According to a press release, PETA will erect the statue adjacent to Ray’s Monkeyhouse, a defunct coffeeshop owned by former Independent mayoral candidate and University of Louisville physics professor Nimbus Couzin, located at 1578 Bardstown Road." [LEO Weekly]